I've been busy!

Well, the observent among you have no doubt noticed our new look! I worked on this yesterday, and I am so happy with the end result! I may tweak a few things still, but I reckon it's good for now. And some of it is thanks to Leni and Rose, a fantastic blog I discovered, where she has good tips and tricks for blogging. So if you want any help to do something similar with your blog, she is the one to go to! I'm also happy to help anyone as well. Now that I know what I am doing! I have done some HTML coding before, but never ventured to do it with my blog. I also love making graphics and headers too, so please feel free to ask if you want something done.

Well, I must say, I am in a bit of a hurry this morning. I have my church ladies morning to go to in....well, *checks watch* ten minutes! Woops... time has slipped away.

But just two quick things I want to mention first!

Patricia from Germany made some fantastically cute cushions using the applique pattern from my '4 Cheeky ponies' tutorial. She did them awhile ago, but I only just found them now! Don't they look great? All of Patricias blog is in German, but luckily for me - my mum speaks German!

Also, as per my previous post, I have been working on my "Sew along," a free Block of the month I'm going to release. And I am so excited about it! As well as 'prettying' up my blog, I worked on the BOM yesterday too. The first block will be released very shortly (hopefully this afternoon,) but here is a sneak peek so far.

Any guesses as to what it is?! I hope you will like it just as much as I do!

Note to self - no more Easter Eggs!

Chocolate and me is really quite a lethal combination. I have no will power when it comes to chocolate, so it never stops at 1 easter egg.... Before I know it, I have eaten 12. And Easter isn't even officially over yet! *sigh* Back to the walking and exercise bike this week!

I had some good news this week that Jantine recieved her giveaway present in the mail!

I'm so glad to hear it has arrived safe and sound in the Netherlands, and Jantine took some great photos of her 3 'helpers' unwrapping it all. Make sure you pop on over to her blog and have a look.
Oh, and here is the little monster softie I made for Jantine too. She was just so cute that I really had trouble parting with her!! Let alone my mum, who is determined to keep anything and everything I make. Luckily I was able to wrap her up (the monster that is, not mum!) before she noticed.

I was looking at the Moda Bakeshop blog the other day, and saw these cute pincushions (Sugar Cube Pincushions) on there. So of course, I had to make one for myself. I have to admit though... My one doesn't look anywhere near as perfect and polished as theirs. My little pincushion has a slight tilt to one side, so if I'm not careful he will topple over. And let's not dwell on my stitching that is plain to see from the outside, because of course it was all done by hand. And hand sewing is not one of my strongest points!

But.... I still love him. And he will serve his purpose well, and that is the main point!
I finally took a slightly better photo of my red and white quilt, "In my garden." Except that now this one looks too dark. Ah well. I can't win.

I have been working on my "Give thanks" quilt, and it's looking great so far. Ok, I tell a lie. Well, not a really big lie. But I did something on it that I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with. And so now I need to sit and think, and look at it for awhile till I'm sure. And if I then decide that I don't like it, I'm going to need to unpick a block and sew a new one in. So the quilt is hanging on the back of my couch, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

Does anyone feel like doing a 'sew along' with me? It's like a free mystery block of the month sort of thing. AmandaJean over at CrazyMomQuilts has done a Quilt-a-long in the past. It looks like great fun! I have a great design in mind for a quilt, and I would love to do it as a sew along and share it with you. That way anyone that wants to join in can. I'm still mulling it over.... but the idea has really taken hold in my mind.